LEXINGTON – For those who thought NASCAR could never work at the thin 2.25-mile ribbon that is the road course at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, they were wrong.

"I said those cars on this track will put on a great show," Mid-Ohio President Craig Rust said. "They don't have the downforce. They're going to slide through the turns and give each other openings."

Don't think that's just promoter-speak pandering to a crowd he hopes to entice back to the track for Saturday's Nationwide Children's Hospital 200, the 22nd of 33 stops for the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The stats back him up.

There were well over 1,000 passes recorded on green-flag laps at Mid-Ohio during last year's inaugural race, although a good chunk of those came during pit stops. Thirty-one drivers made at last 30 passes during the course 94-lap race. Marcos Ambrose had 80 green-flag passes, followed by Regan Smith's 78, Austin Dillon's 72, Trevor Bayne's 71, and Mike Bliss and his 70.

"What I don't think people understand, while they don't have the acceleration of an IndyCar or motorcycle, those cars are fast. Those cars haul," Rust said. "When you get drivers that compete and you can poke your nose in there and not worry about breaking a front wing or wheel, once you get inside there, that guy can cut you off, but he knows he's going to spin. So he's going to move to the outside and this guys has an edge."

And just don't think all the green flag passes are inflated by getting around backmarkers.

Among quality passes — those made on green-flag laps inside the top 15 — there were still 435 made. Ambrose was best with 33 followed by Max Papis and his 25, Nelson Piquet Jr. and his 24, and Sam Hornish Jr. and his 23. Jeremy Clements had the best differential in the race with a +40 (61 green passes with 21 times passed under green). Ambrose was +33 and Jeffrey Earnhardt was +21.

There were seven green-flag passes for the lead.

COWEN RETURNS: Ashland's Tim Cowen, a former SCCA national champion and a long time road racer and short tracker in the Trans-Am Series, NASCAR Busch East Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and ARCA will try to make the field for this year's Nationwide Series race at Mid-Ohio. Cowen failed to qualify in the inaugural event after a late practice accident damaged the car too badly.

• OTHER NOTABLES: The Nationwide Series is home to the future of the sport with drivers like Ty Dillon, Chase Elliott, James and Chris Buescher, Ryan Reed, Trevor Bayne and Jeffrey Earnhardt. It is also home to recognizable names such as Regan Smith, Elliott Sadler, Alex Tagliani, Sam Hornish Jr., Derrike Cope and Brendan Gaughan. All will be at Mid-Ohio this weekend.

• TV TIME ON ESPN: The Nationwide Children's Hospital 200 will be shown live Saturday on ESPN. NASCAR Countdown will air at 2:30 p.m. with the race going green at 3:03 p.m. Qualifying on Saturday will be shown on ESPN2 at 9:30 a.m. ESPN Deportes will show the race Sunday at 4 a.m.

The TV crew will be Dave Burns and Ricky Cravin in the booth with Rick DeBruhl, Jim Noble and Vince Welch working the pits.

Bliss did not start his national career until he was 30, but he owns 39 NASCAR starts on road courses. he has one road course win, five top fives and nine top 10s in road course races while in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

• GREEN RETURN: Jeff Green will be back at Mid-Ohio in the No. 14 Toyota Camry. Last year he was in the top 15, but a last lap accident relegated him to 24th.

"I'm looking forward to getting back to the track and racing the Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Toyota," he said in a statement. "We had a great run going there last year until the last lap. Hopefully, we can use last year's information and have another good race there with a better outcome."

• NO SPORTS CARS: The 2015 Tudor United SportsCar Championship schedule was recently announced, and for the second straight year Mid-Ohio will not be hosting major league sports car racing in America.

• FRIDAYS TO SATURDAYS: Attica Raceway Park will make its annual late summer move from Fridays to Saturday night racing starting this weekend. The dirt oval off Ohio 4 will host 410 and 305 sprints to go with late models and dirt trucks in a weekly racing card, while the season championships will be decided next weekend.

• SPRINTS IN ORRVILLE: The Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series wingless sprint cars will race Saturday night at NAPA Wayne County Speedway with the Orrville dirt track's sprint cars also holding a feature along with late models, super stocks, mini stocks and mini wedges.

• HILLTOP WINNER: Mansfield's Mike Lonas won the street stock feature at Hilltop Speedway in Millersburg for the first time this season. The dirt oval will host its season championships Saturday night, but on Friday night it will showcase dirt bikes and quad-runners racing with tickets at $10.

Rob McCurdy covers motor sports for the Media Network of Central Ohio and can be reached at rmccurdy@gannett.com or 419-521-7241. On Twitter follow @McMotorsport.